Futility: Not Just a Medical Issue

Abstract

We do not like the idea of doctors and nurses being forced to provide care that offends their sense of themselves and their art. But we like even less the idea of physicians allocating resources without the force of society's judgment. Physicians must help craft the policies on futility or those policies will not reflect sound medical judgment. But how our country creates policies is as important as what the policies mandate. If our society requires physicians to create health care policies on their own, we will shirk our responsibility to ourselves.